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Posted On: 10/09/2007

Square D hosted a valuable conference in the sunny south

PlantServices.com

The Square D Energy, Power Distribution and Control Conference drew more than 200 plant professionals to Raleigh, N.C. on September 11 for two days of practical technical education. The event was designed around the needs of plant managers and engineers, consulting engineers and distributors who must keep abreast of advances in facility maintenance, power distribution and plant automation. This event was a noncommercial, noncompetitive environment where end users and manufacturers were able to learn about and discuss topics such as electrical distribution, automation and control, energy management and arc flash safety, all presented through a series of lectures, case studies, white papers and equipment studies. Participants were eligible to earn as many as 1.25 CEU during the event.

For example, those interested in electrical reliability heard about harmonics, bonding and grounding, field modification of listed equipment, monitoring the temperature of energized equipment, switchgear modernization, vacuum interrupters and circuit breaker diagnostics.

The second track, energy management, covered ways to manage the human element of energy consumption, a case study on managing and optimizing a campus-wide electrical system, emergency power supply system testing, greenhouse gas legislation and carbon footprinting, energy management systems, performance contracting and AC drives.

The third track, automation and control, featured presentations on the concept of the transparent facility, Ethernet design and troubleshooting, life planning automation and control systems, PLC programming via the IEC standards, an Ethernet case study, VSDs and uptime, and compliance with the new NEC 409 standard.

The general sessions is where participants learned about the significant changes in the 2007 NFPA 79 standard, mitigating arc energy and achieving compliance with the latest version of the NFPA 70e electrical safety standard.